


Shards

by pyromania2667



Category: Original Work
Genre: Gen, One Shot, Short, Short One Shot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:40:47
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,835
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27124642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pyromania2667/pseuds/pyromania2667
Summary: Short story because whatever, trying to warm up so I can finish these commissions.I originally intended for this to have a sad ending, but I didn't like the way that turned out, so I gave it a COMPLETELY different ending
Kudos: 1





	Shards

The night is still young as Fern enters her car with her husband Zachary, the sun was long gone, but the darkened sky felt bright from their anniversary coming to an end. It was a tradition to go back to their favorite restaurant, how unfortunate it was completely booked, but thankfully the manager managed to find a table for them right before they closed.

Fern glances at the silver bracelet around her wrist.

“So,” Zachary spoke up, “I can see you are enjoying my little gift.”

Fern tugged at one of the dangling beads, “It’s really sweet of you... and very pretty... Though I feel a little bad that I didn’t get you anything.”

“Don’t worry,” he replies, “The time we spend together is worth far more than a piece of jewelry, right?”

Fern looks back at him, nodding, “Yeah, I couldn’t have asked for anyone better to spend the rest of my life with.”

Zachary smiled back before starting the car. The drive home was only forty minutes away, but the commute to this place was surely worthwhile.

Zachary speaks, but keeps his eyes on the road, “Why did you recommend this place anyway?”

“Actually, my sister kept raving about Marie’s. ‘You haven’t taken Zachary to Marie’s?! He’ll love it! Come on, it’s like our favorite childhood restaurant.’” Fern replied, imitating her sister. “She can be so silly and excitable sometimes, but she was adamant about us coming today.”

Zachary turns to her as they approach a red stop-light, “When I heard how special it was to you I knew I wanted to make it a place we could never forget.”

Fern gives a light chuckle, staring back into his eyes, “Yeah, I never would have-”

Her thought is interrupted by a deafening crash as their car is rear-ended. Everything seems to move so slowly in that second.

She is thrust into her seatbelt, nearly being rocketed out by the impact as their car is shoved into the middle of the incoming traffic.

There is hardly enough time to scream as an incoming car crashes directly into the side of their vehicle.

Shards of glass fly through the interior and Fern is knocked thrashed around within the car.

Everything happens in such a blur, she barely remembers desperately trying to help her husband out of the bits of broken glass and torn metal before the sounds of sirens approaches from the distance.

Zachary is completely covered in blood.

“Please…” Fern begs, “Please, don’t die, don’t go… Please, I’d give anything for you to stay”

Everything happened in a blur and soon enough a day passed from the incident. She was at the hospital, hovering over her husband. He lies completely still in the ER, lifeline beeping steadily, his entire body almost completely wrapped in bandages.

“It’s a miracle you survived…” The doctor states, not taking his eyes off of Zachary.

Fern can feel her body ache, still traumatized from the crash as she rests on a nearby chair.

“What’ll happen to him? Will he be alright?”

The doctor shakes his head, “A car is truly one of the most dangerous places to be in, but only time will tell on the recovery.”

Fern sighs softly as the doctor leaves. Her body is covered in scars, the memory of blood pouring out of her is still stained within her mind.

She approaches Zachary, gently caressing his face with her finger as the door to the room opens. It’s one of the nurses.

Fern stares at the nurse, tears welling in her eyes, but before she can speak up, the nurse leaves without a word. The worry in the nurse’s expression tells Fern all that she needs to know.

As she returns her gaze to Zachary, deep down Fern knows there is nothing she wouldn’t give to see him full of life once more.

Returning to Zachary has become her only solace since the crash. Every time she sees his scarred features she’s reminded of the incident.

Every time she glances at the wounds along her body the painful reminder of blood and snapping limbs refuses to leave her.

The next day she returns, the doctor tells her that his condition has been worsening and she may need to prepare for the worst.

Fern stares back at them in disbelief, this can’t be happening. She can’t let it happen, there has to be something.

The doctor shakes their head, stating that they’ll do the best they can.

Fern enters the room, her body flushes as heat flows through her. There’s nothing she wouldn’t give up for her husband.

She unties the silver bracelet from her wrist before fastening it onto his.

“Please… return to me… Zachary…”

As Fern returns home that night, her dreams are haunted by a strange vision, it’s of her husband, but he’s screaming as he lies on razor-sharp glass shards, they merge together to form a hand, pulling him deeper into the pit of glass. Suddenly she can feel razor sharp shards along her legs as a hand pulls her into the pit with him.

She wakes up in a cold sweat, just a terrible dream, that’s all it is. She’d look down at her scars, the painful memories of the glass shards still make her feel like she’s bleeding. She looks down at her wrists as a glint of light reflects back at her eye. She reaches her fingers down only to pull up a shard of glass from her skin, it's covered in her blood.

Days pass, she has spent so much time in that room that even the nurses seem to fear talking to her. She can hear whispers from them outside, speaking of how sad it is and how wrong it feels to be in that room.

Perhaps they’re right, maybe the only thing Fern needs is to be alone with her husband.

Fern returns day after day, waiting for the hours so she can spend as much time with Zachary as possible, simply being at his side makes her feel better.

The doctors check up on him from time to time, but they always seem to be in such haste, constantly glancing back at her while they run some tests.

A week passes and Zachary’s eyes begin to open, he’s weak, but tears of joy flow from Fern’s face as she returns the gaze to him.

His eyes seem so distant as if he doesn’t even notice her.

Perhaps he’s not truly conscious yet, but deep down Fern knows that it’s only a matter of time before he begins walking again.

The nurses still refuse to enter the room, she can hear the doctors speak outside. Zachary is regaining signs of brain function, but the nurses still whisper, saying that it still feels wrong to enter.

The days slowly pass, each time Fern approaches Zachary to gently caress his face, a reminder to herself that hope is not lost.

It’s a miracle to see how much he’s improved from the first night she saw him, his scars have healed, he’s no longer wrapped in bandages and it almost reflects the perfect visage of her husband before the accident.

As Fern brings her hand down to his wrist, she notices his arm twitch slightly as his eyes steadily blink open.

His breathing staggers slightly as he shifts around in the bed.

It’s not long until a doctor enters the room.

Her thoughts race before she speaks, “He’s moving, I think he’s okay now!”

The doctor rushes to Zachary.

“How long was I out..?” Zachary asks.

“Four months,” the doctor replies.

“FERN!” he shouts, “Where’s Fern?”

Fern clutches at Zachary’s hand, “Right here… Zachary,” she replies

Zachary turns to her, a weak smile splayed across his face. She looks into his eyes, they seem so dull and lifeless. His hazel irises twinkle faintly as he meets her gaze.

“Thank goodness you’re here… I remember seeing you from time to time, it gives me the strength I needed to push on.”

Fern smiles back as she pulls him for a hug, “I’m just glad you’re okay.”

Zachary’s recovery is miraculously quick, he’s back on his feet in only a week and shows virtually no signs of damage from the accident.

Fern breathes a sigh of relief knowing that her husband is by her side once more.

Once back home, Fern prepares herself for the night, ready to sleep easy. As she drifts into her slumber her dreams stir once more. This time instead of Zachary within the pit of glass, it is herself. She is looking from the perspective of an observer as the shards of glass swarm around her, pulling her deeper into their grasp.

She can feel its lips move, a horrible feeling as if her body has begun acting without her will.

“A deal is a deal. Quite the price to pay, is it not?”

She wakes up in a cold sweat, Zachary is perfectly calm beside her.

She stirs him awake as he groggily looks back at her.

“Zachary… something doesn’t feel right…”

“What do you mean?”

“I just… I had a weird dream…”

She can barely make out his expression in the darkness, he raises an eyebrow at her.

“It's probably just a nightmare, but don't worry, we're together now.”

Fern shakes her head, “No, something feels… wrong. It was a recurring dream, but this time a bit different.”

Zachary sits up, looking back at her with his full attention.

“Fern… did you do something?”

Fern shakes her head, "I did nothing but wait every day for your return."

Zachary’s expression shifts from concern to fear.

“I saw something while I was in the hospital… Not always, but sometimes when I opened my eyes there was something else in that room with you. I thought it was one of the doctors, it was so hard to focus on…”

“What do you mean?”

Something else cuts through their conversation before Zachary can respond

“A small price to pay, right?” A voice speaks from behind her. “You were both supposed to die that night, but somehow you lived, Fern.”

Fern jumps as she’s met with a large winged demon behind her.

“Your sister had planned this from the start, she owes me so much. A shame she failed to kill the both of you.”

Fern speaks up in shock, “Aria planned this?!”

The demon chuckles, “Who do you think crashed into your car that night? Now, a deal is a deal… but I pity this man for being tied into your mortal affairs. Perhaps you’d be willing to make a trade… An eternity of torment for two, you said you wanted your precious Zachary to live, so I’d be willing to instead take you and your sister.”

Fern freezes, she could never wish for her husband to suffer in that pit of glass for an eternity, and this demon surely has more planned, but what choices does she have left?

“Eternity awaits… What will it be, Fern?”


End file.
